Terry and Heather had an “old-fashion” marriage arrangement. Terry worked on the farm, and Heather worked in and around the house. The children had grown up and left, and apart from visits from family and friends, they led a fairly ordered and predictable life.
Terry would help with the dishes every evening after the meal, and Heather would help with the hay-making when the season came. But the truth was that if anything happened to Terry, Heather wouldn’t have much of a clue as to what to do on the farm; and if anything happened to Heather, Terry’s culinary expertise amounted to reheating a pre-cooked dinner in the microwave.
Then Heather got sick and had to go to the hospital for a week. A friend brought some lovely flowers before Heather went away.
“I’m going to leave these flowers on the dining table for you to enjoy while I’m gone,” said Heather to Terry. And she did. And she went.
For the first couple of days Terry dutifully watered the flowers in the vase. Then he noticed that one of the flowers was going a bit floppy.
“They have to last until Heather gets back,” thought Terry, and he put the vase of flowers in the fridge. That way they would stay fresh for longer. He knew that from the cool store he had in his shed for some cattle drench.
The week passed. Heather returned. Terry placed the flowers back on the table.
“Look at the flowers!” said Heather. “They’re still fresh and lovely. I hope you enjoyed them.”
“I looked at them every day,” said Terry.
He was rather pleased with his house-keeping skills.
To listen to the story being read click HERE!
Really Bruce? Do flowers really stay fresh in the fridge? I have given up on sprouting the Kumera 😦 just doesn’t work for me!!
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O I don’t know why you kumara didn’t sprout!! The naughty thing!! I don’t know about flowers in the fridge lasting longer, but I presume they do as they ship them overseas in coolers of some sort.
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Full marks to Terry’s house-keeping skills! Heather can sit around with her feet up from now on.
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She should make hay while the sun shines!
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As my adopted Italian grandmother was wont to say: fetta cenza! (translation: fat chance!)
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No wonder you’re good at languages when you had an adopted grandmother cussing in Italian!
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😀 I wonder what the rest of the house looked like ……….
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No doubt he made the bed (I happen to know a couple exactly like this) and he put a mark on the wall while vacuuming!
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Well, at least he tried!
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I had to look up cattle drench. I could never fit anything as tall as a vase + flowers in my fridge, but I did once try to keep a small bouquet of flowers in there: they curled into themselves and died in a couple of days. It must have been too cold for them. I’ve tried keeping fresh cut parsley in a glass of water in the fridge, and that works well if you keep a plastic bag over the top…it lasts quite a while.
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I hope Terry is reading this, Cynthia.
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He doesn’t own a computer!!
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I would imagine a fridge would be too cold for most living things. And re the cattle drench – we’ll turn you into a farm girl yet!!
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Bruce, this is almost sweet. I’m sure you’ll have something quite horrible in store for us in the next few days!
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Mmmm… let me think… tomorrow’s story is about an African Dung Beetle, so that’s probably quite sweet as well!
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Eeuw… is there a wrinkled nose emoji?
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Wait and see!
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I enjoyed the piece of science fiction.
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I had intended it to be epic with a slightly pornographic undertone. Clearly, I missed the mark.
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I suppose he would have opened the fridge every day
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Where else does one keep the beer cold?
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🙂
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